Re: Gujars
Assalam-o-Alaikum Gup-Shup Guys.
I have recently registered with this interesting forum and I would like to share my humble views with you guys.
It is regarding Gujars. By the way, I am not a Gujar, but do have a lot of respect for them. Unlike the immense, unfathomable and often varied information and knowledge available on the net, mine is just quite bookish and limited. Still I would like to add something. As far as the Gujars are concerned, they were actually central asian in origin. They were called, Gujaras and/or Gurjaras. The Khazars, Kajars or Qajars were actually Persians and not central asians, although both are Cauacassian. The word Khazar is probably a later version, and appeared quite lately in Persia under the Arab influence. The word Khazar is a variation of the word Khizar in Arabic which means Green. The same word has been reserved for Hazrat Khizar, who according to certain muslim scholars and sufis, guide the lost and distracted in sea, rivers and lakes. The Caspian Sea, at some time was given a name realting to Hazrat Khizar in this connection and not on account of Gujars. Again, Gujars, Gujaras or Gurjaras, did not come to Sub-Continent with Huns. They were actually driven out of the central asian steppes by the Huns before the arrival of Jesus Christ. It is after this loss of their grazing lands to Huns, that they started migrating towards south east. Eventually they found a refuge in northern India and formed a Kingdom of their own called GUJARAT in the areas adjoining rivers Jehlum, Chenab, Tavi and Ravi. It includes the present day, Kashmir, Jammu, Upper Western Punjab including present day, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Kharian, Jehlum, Upper Eastern Punjab including present day Gurdaspur, Chandigarh etc. The Huns later followed them to the Indian Sub-Continent, but could not defeat them because by then the Gujars, thanks to the fertility of the land of The Punjab and lower Kashmir, had become quite advanced, forceful and fortified. It was actually the Aryans, who after Huns, directed their attention towards the Indian Sub-Continent and started raiding the Gujar settlements and eventually succeeded in occupying their lands. The Gujars had to leave their abode once again, this time at the hands of Aryans. They were driven out and were pushed further south along the eastern banks of Five river system of The Punjab. Here they found refuge in the present day lower Rajisthan, formed a smaller kingdom and named it GUJARAT. It included the present day Indian Gujarat, Kathiawar and Junagarh etc. The remaining elements of the Gujars in The Punjab and Kashmir, were forced to adopt menial jobs by the Aryans, including the breeding of cattle and not the horses, for milk, meat, tilling, ploughing and transport. They were deliberately not given the breeding of horses, as to own one was the privellege of the ruling class and not the ones being ruled. That is how the rulers became the cattle breeders. In The Punjab, most of the Gujars use an honourific title of Chaudhry before their names e.g., Chaudhry Rahmat Ali. It must be remembered that Chaudhry is an honourific tilte and not a caste in itself. This title is also used in different areas by different castes, e.g., it is used by Rajputs, Arains, Jatts in different areas. Presently, Gujars are scattered throughout Pakistan. Although their number is quite little in Balochistan, yet they can be found in Quetta, Naushki. In Sarhad, they can be found in Peshawar, Abbottabad, Hazara. In Sindh, they are settled in small numbers in rural areas but mostly in Karachi. Their maximum concentration is in The Punjab, where they are present in large numbers in Gujrat, Jehlum, Kharian, Gujranwala, Shekhupura, Faisalabad and Jhang etc. In Azad Kashmir too, they are found in Muzaffarabad and Hattian Bala. Over here, I would like to narrate a brief account of a great, Gujar Hero of Kashmir movement. He is hardly known as freedom fighter, but is more popular as a saint. He was infact, a renowned Sufi of the Naqshbandi Mujadadi order. His name was Hazrat Sufi Faqir Muhammad, and was a Gujar. He belonged to a village called Daman Basauli, in Tehsil Hattian Bala, of District Muzaffarabad, of Azad Kashmir. He was a soldier in the British Army, but with storng love for the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad, peace be upon him. He was once over whelmed by the love of Holy Prophet and set out to find a Master, Mentor, Teacher, Murshid, Sheikh, whatever you may call. He travelled all the way from Kashmir and eventually reached Lahore where he found Hazrat Sufi Sayyed Abdul Qadir Shah, Naqshbandi Mujadadai Qadri as a perect teacher, who bestowed upon him Khilafat and sent him back to Kashmir. Afterwards, he left the British Army and started following a simple life. In 1947, at the time of Indian intervention in Kashmir affairs, he gathered Kashmiri freedom fighters at his own in a place called Saran Galla near Chakothi. He was among the first local who unfirled the flag of independence in Hattian Bala, but you would never find his name in any book, article or paper. He single handedly, alongwith his bunch of freedom fighters took the brunt of Indian Assault in Chakothi and Pandu Sectors and kept on fighting till a Company of the 2nd Battallion of the 1st Punjab Regiment of Pakistan Army was despatched to that area under the Command of Captain Sarwar Shaheed Nisahn-e-Haider. It would be quite interesting to note, that before he relieved his self assigned duty to Pakistan Army, he prayed before Allah Almighty and asked for His blessings to curtail the Indian Attack. He also prayed for the success of Captain Sarawr Shaheed, Nishan-e-Haider, who, by the grace of Allah Almighty, succeeded in thwarting the Indian attack at the cost of his life. After relieving his self assigned duties to Captain Sarwar Shaheed Hazrat Sufi Faqir Muhammad, gathered other Kashmirir freedom fighters, volunteers including The Punjabis from Jehlum and Mahsuds from Sarahd. He again attacked at his own in the Uri sector and became victorious on his front. Later afer the ceasefire, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan visited the area and addressed a gathering in Saran Galla, where he acknowledged the efforts of Hazrat Sufi Faqir Muhammad, and also called him an Honourary General. It was later groups of freedom fightere like these, formed by a Gujar Saint, which were converted into Azad Regiments of Kashmir or Azad Forces. Hazrat Sufi Faqir Muhammad passed away in 1953 and was burried in the town of Daman Basauli, in Hattian Balla near Muzafarabad. People from different areas of Pakistan come to his shrine to offer Fatiha and pay homage. Another living proof of the greatness of the Allah's Saints was seen in October 2005 Earthquake, when all of the village Daman Basauli was levelled to ground, except ofcourse the shrine of Hazrat Sufi Faqir Muhammad, his old house and its adjoining Masjid.
Gujars like Chaudhry Rahmat Ali and Hazrat Sufi Faqir Muhammad Naqshbandi Mujadadi have made me to respect the Gujars from the core of my heart.
Khuda Hafiz. See you again sometime.
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Have you ever lived in Pakistan among PAKISTANIS??? Phuleasee keep your philosophy to yourself if you have never lived or friended with punjabis 
You also need lot of growing up to do like Anil.. What the heck is up with you guys(pathan ) obsessing to show off that Pathans are lighter in color?? does that make you smarter??hell NO.
), glowing, flowless and not hairy.
, what I mean is that physical appearence especially something as trivial as - Are your genes off-white or brown - is an incredibly stupid thing to debate. The political climate of these times makes it even more trivial.